Sarla Bedi

Sarla Bedi, née Kapila, (4 April 192515 November 2013), was an Indian priestess who spent her life living in three continents. She established the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement, in Toronto, Canada and promoted social causes.

Biography Bedi was born Kapila in Sahnewal, India.

Following an upheaval in political conditions in East Africa, particularly in Uganda where Indians in that country were persecuted, Bedi emigrated to Toronto, Canada in 1972. In Toronto, along with her husband, she established Arya Samaj, an offshoot of the Hindu reform movement that started in India in 1875; through this institution they facilitated a large number of immigrants to become established in Canada.

In 1976, Sarla became a priestess and was the first female Hindu priest in Ontario. She promoted Hindu culture as a priestess by conducting the Hindu religious rites of fire sacrifice, baptisms, weddings and funerals for the Indian diaspora. She was instrumental in raising funds for the institution. As a result, the institution's own building was built in 1996 in Markham as a Vedic Cultural Centre.

She died at the age of 88 on 15 November 2013, in Toronto.